{"id":733288,"date":"2026-02-06T11:20:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-06T11:20:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/733288\/"},"modified":"2026-02-06T11:20:00","modified_gmt":"2026-02-06T11:20:00","slug":"aaron-jones-slams-the-vikings","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/733288\/","title":{"rendered":"Aaron Jones Slams the Vikings"},"content":{"rendered":"

Last offseason, the Minnesota Vikings moved on from Pro Bowl quarterback Sam Darnold to hand the keys to sophomore J.J. McCarthy. That decision has backfired so far, and some players are clearly feeling the effects. On Thursday, running back Aaron Jones revealed his anger.<\/p>\n

Super Bowl week is when various players chat with the media. Jones appeared<\/a> on the Nightcap Show and he was predictably asked about Darnold and how differently things would\u2019ve shaken out with him in the building in 2025. <\/p>\n

\u201cLast year,\u201d Jones said, \u201cwe only lost to two teams, really. We lost two to the Rams and two to the Lions. I feel like we had everything we needed, but we\u2019re not GMs, that\u2019s outside of us. But when you got a group of guys behind a quarterback and he wants to stay somewhere, you try to make it work.\u201d <\/p>\n

\"aaronMinnesota Vikings quarterback Sam Darnold (14) hands the ball to running back Aaron Jones (33) during the first half at Ford Field in Detroit on Sunday, Jan. 5, 2025.<\/p>\n

According to NFL Network\u2019s Tom Pelissero<\/a> in November, the Vikings offered Darnold a similar deal to the one he ultimately signed in Seattle. He signed a three-year contract worth $100.5 million, with only one year guaranteed. In theory, the Seahawks could easily get out of the deal now, which they of course don\u2019t want to. <\/p>\n

Pelissero added that the Vikings didn\u2019t want to commit to more than that because they believed in McCarthy. It should be noted, though, that the club could\u2019ve used the franchise tag to make sure Darnold stays in the State of 10,000 Lakes. Instead, he walked and stacked a second strong season on his Pro Bowl campaign with the Vikings and led the NFC West franchise to the Super Bowl. <\/p>\n

A forgotten aspect is that the Vikings made the switch not only for 2025 but had the future in mind, thinking McCarthy <\/a>could captain the ship for a decade. It\u2019s too early to make the final evaluation, though the Vikings certainly don\u2019t look smart at this point. <\/p>\n

Jones is not the only player who wished Darnold had quarterbacked the Vikings in 2025. Justin Jefferson, the superstar receiver that possibly suffered the most from the inconsistent quarterback play, said last week<\/a>: <\/p>\n

\u201cEveryone knows the difficulty of the quarterback position this year, of how we were dealt it. But having a quarterback that\u2019s already had a season under his belt with us, knew the plays, knew the playbook, knew the players. Of course, throwing to me, Jordan Addison, T.J. Hockenson, all of these guys, I definitely felt like we would\u2019ve done better.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"NFL:Aug 2, 2024; Eagan, MN, USA; Minnesota Vikings quarterback J.J. McCarthy (9) and quarterback Sam Darnold (14) warm up during practice at Vikings training camp in Eagan, MN. Mandatory Credit: Jeffrey Becker-USA TODAY Sports<\/p>\n

McCarthy ended up starting ten games and was statistically among the league\u2019s least efficient starters for much of the season. Later in the campaign, he put together a string of solid games, but injuries kept him from getting more playing time. <\/p>\n

In the next few weeks, the Vikings are expected to make a move for another quarterback. It\u2019s still up in the air who that will be, but candidates like Kyler Murray, Mac Jones, and Kirk Cousins are already floating through Minnesota\u2019s cold winter air. <\/p>\n

Jones brought up his former teammate, Aaron Rodgers, as a potential competitor to McCarthy. Rodgers reportedly liked the idea of playing for the Vikings in 2025. He\u2019s now another year older and his play last season wasn\u2019t too inspiring. Still, the Vikings might have changed their minds on the subject and engage in serious talks with him this time. <\/p>\n

For Jones, the upcoming weeks will also be crucial. He is under contract through the 2026 season, but the Vikings need to clear cap space and Jones\u2019 contract is cuttable. The franchise would save $7.75 million by releasing him. <\/p>\n

\"\"Detroit Lions linebacker Alex Anzalone (34) and linebacker Jack Campbell (46) tackle Minnesota Vikings running back Aaron Jones Sr. (33) during the first half at Ford Field in Detroit on Sunday, November 2, 2025.<\/p>\n

The runner was still effective last season, but he is 31 years old and he isn\u2019t getting any younger. Jones has struggled with injuries over the years and missed five games in 2025. His scrimmage yards dropped from 1,546 in 2024 to 747 in 2025, and his touchdowns from 7 to 3. <\/p>\n

The players are clearly unhappy with how the last season went. Coming off a magical 14-3 year, winning only nine games and being eliminated around Thanksgiving, largely because of quarterback play, was disappointing enough to prompt public frustration from veterans who felt the team was closer than the results showed.<\/p>\n

Editor\u2019s Note: Information from\u00a0PFF<\/a>,\u00a0Over The Cap<\/a>,\u00a0and\u00a0Sports Reference<\/a>\u00a0helped with this article.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Last offseason, the Minnesota Vikings moved on from Pro Bowl quarterback Sam Darnold to hand the keys to…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":733289,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2073],"tags":[6912,7,233,259,2529,6,1878,234],"class_list":{"0":"post-733288","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-minnesota-vikings","8":"tag-aaron-jones","9":"tag-football","10":"tag-minnesota","11":"tag-minnesota-vikings","12":"tag-minnesotavikings","13":"tag-nfl","14":"tag-sam-darnold","15":"tag-vikings"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nfl\/116023423206558247","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/733288","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=733288"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/733288\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/733289"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=733288"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=733288"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nfl\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=733288"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}